


no one

by kristyn



Category: Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magika | Puella Magi Madoka Magica
Genre: F/F, Gen, PMMM AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-25
Updated: 2013-03-25
Packaged: 2017-12-06 10:52:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,596
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/734846
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kristyn/pseuds/kristyn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Homura Akemi wakes in her hospital bed after another timeline, only to realize she is still being hospitalized for her illness, and the world of Puella Magi was invented by her subconscious mind to deal with the shock.</p>
            </blockquote>





	no one

**Author's Note:**

> I own nothing  
> This is the result of a "what if..." question I had one day after rewatching episode 10.  
> Hope you like it!

Homura Akemi heard distant voices as she came to. As the haze of reality focused, the voices grew louder and easier to make out.

            “...and after undergoing several surgeries, she has been in a constant state of drug-induced sleep for six months.”

            Homura found she could twitch her fingers. Her cloudy and jumbled thoughts began to form a question.

            “Where am I?”

            The voices gasped.

            “She’s awake!”

            “Impossible!”

            “What’d she say?”

            A familiar voice cut in from across the room.

            “Enough.”

            Homura heard footsteps and the voice was much closer. “She wakes once a month, like Clockwork. But it’s only briefly. She doesn’t say or do anything; she merely stares unfocused, until the coma overtakes her once more. I always stay by her side when this happens. I’d prefer it if you left, Dr. Saotome.”

            Homura heard the crowd leave, and it was then she felt safe to open her eyes. A blinding, harsh white light shone down at her. She made to screech; however, her vocal cords failed her.

            “Hello, Homura-chan.”

            Homura's squinted, unfocused eyes stared into the nurse’s own rose-colored ones. The young woman was familiar to her... someone she knew...

            “M-Madoka... I-It’s you...” she croaked when she recalled her friend. Something was off, however, that went beyond the obvious fact that Madoka looked older than she remembered. She scarcely had the strength to contemplate it, though.

            Homura felt salty, hot tears gather at the edges of her eyes before they quickly cascaded down the side of her face and landed on the pillow underneath her. Homura's memories soon pieced together. Of course. She was back in the hospital after reversing time once more.

            But some things were not adding up.

            This was not her normal hospital bed. This was the room in which she spent six months, being treated constantly for her heart condition. She was then transferred to a lower-scale rehabilitation center after enduring the necessary tests and showing signs of improvement. Four weeks after that she transferred to Mitakihara Junior High School where she met Madoka Kaname for the first time.

            She learned about magical girls there.

            After being rescued from a creature called a ‘witch’ by magical girls Madoka Kaname and Mami Tomoe, she joined their adventures and fought witches alongside them (or rather, watched the fighting from the sidelines.). When the most evil witch descended on the magical girls, Walpurgis Night, it left all but Homura Akemi dead.

            On that day, Kyuubey, the contracter, transformed Homura into a magical girl in return for granting one wish.

            “I wish to redo my meeting with Madoka Kaname!”

            And so she did. Several times she repeated the same month, over and over, until she got one in which her beloved Madoka did not die.

            It became her sole purpose. Every time a timeline proved a failure, Homura would turn back time and return to her rehab room the day before starting the new term at her school.

            She could only assume she had woken up after a bad timeline. She was back in a hospital bed. Yes, it wasn’t the right hospital bed, but at least it was the same hospital. But since when did Madoka get there? And why did she seem far older than a middle schooler?

            Presently, Madoka Kaname smiled sadly and lightly grazed her hand along Homura's cheek.

            “You’ve never spoken before when you have your monthly awakenings. I hope this is a sign your situation is improving. Perhaps soon we can shift you to the rehabilitation center.”

            Homura stared in hazy disbelief. “I was already... in rehab...”

            Madoka's smile fell. “No, Homura-chan. You weren’t.”

            Homura sniffed, feeling like a child. “Y-yes... I was... I’m a magical girl... a Puella Magi...” she added, for some reason feeling the need to convince her friend.

            Madoka looked grave. Homura could see tears in her friend’s eyes. Madoka blinked several times and stared out the window right next to Homura's hospital bed. “This is going to be very hard to hear. Especially from me,” Madoka carefully started.

            “Madoka...”

            “You have been in this bed for months. You... you have been through an unbelievable ordeal for someone even twice your age. It seems... The doctors here are very skilled... They’ve got machines... They were able to monitor what was happening in your mind while you were in a comatose state. It seems you have, in your mind, created a world in which you possess magical abilities that help you overcome your physical ailments.”

            Homura's eyes widened and her heart pounded. She sniffled. “Why would you say that?”

            “I’m so sorry, Homura-chan. So, so sorry...”

            Homura's heart raced. Sweat formed on her brow. A machine began to beat steadily. Madoka kneeled by her side and held her hand.

            “DOCTOR!” Madoka yelled, while thumbing a red button behind Akemi’s bed.

            “W-w-what about Sayaka Miki? Mama-san? Kyouko?! What about Kyuubey?” Her breathing became more rapid.

            “Sayaka Miki, Mami Tomoe, and Kyouko Sakura were all patients who’ve come in and died in the time you were here. Kyuubey is what we call this room, rather... the I.C. unit... Incubator.” Tears were falling freely from Madoka's eyes.

            A machine beeped faster as people rushed in the room. Homura's hearing and vision were soon lost as her world faded away into comatose once more.

 

When she next awoke, it was only hours later. New wires were attached to her head, arms, and chest, and Madoka's head rested on Homura's lap. She was sound asleep.

            Homura lifted her arm. She could only lift to her elbow before the wires threatened to pull off.

            Her Puella Magi ring, the ring that proved her magic, the ring that held her soul gem... was not there. Her fingernail bore no sign of the printed purple design that accompanied her magic.

            Madoka was right. She would be dead without her soul gem.

            How could she have so long believed her own lies? Because they felt real. It all felt so real. The pain, the hurt... The tears. When she fell in love with Madoka. It felt real. Too real.

            But it wasn’t real. None of it.

            She could scarcely believe it.

            She squeezed her eyes shut, hoping to fall back asleep. Because if she fell asleep, she’d return to being a magical girl, right? The more she wrapped her mind around it, the lower her spirit sunk.

            That meant her Madoka was gone. Now in her place... some irrelevant nurse who cared for her sick heart.

            Alternatively, she will never have to turn back time, or experience the same hurt over and over again. She’ll never have to watch Madoka die again. She can finally stay in the same timeline.

            But was her life even worth anything anymore?

            Her eyes shot open as it dawned on her. Prior to becoming a magical girl, she’d been in deep despair. But after meeting Madoka Kaname...

            Who will pull her out of her despair this time?

            No one.

            _No one._

Her vision hazed, and suddenly she found herself ripping her sheets off. With a light tug, the wires came loose from her skin. She hopped off the bed, and Madoka gave a cry as she fell off the side and hit the floor headfirst.

            “Homura-chan!”

            Ignoring the shrieking machines, Akemi examined her standing, albeit wobbling, body. This was the real Homura Akemi. But how could she tell what was real anymore?

            She took a hesitant step toward the window.

            ‘ _It would be better if you just died...’_

            “Yeah...”

            She stepped closer. Madoka shakily stood up, forcing herself to stay conscious.

            “Homura-chan! What are you doing?!” She slammed the red button beside Homura's bed with so much force it jolted her hand.

            Homura took one more step before Madoka launched herself in front of her path. “Homura-chan! Go back to your bed! You need those wires! You’ll kill yourself!”

            “Yeah...”

            Homura sidestepped in an attempt to walk around the nurse. Instead, she wobbled and fell into Madoka's arms. Frustrated at her own weakness, tears sprung to her eyes.

            “Who are you?! You _aren’t Madoka!_ ” Homura screeched. She slid out of Madoka's grasp, and the nurse caught her and lowered her to the tiled floor.

            “Yes! Yes, I am, Homura-chan! I am Madoka Kaname and you are Homura Akemi!”

            Homura fought, kicking and hitting Madoka with surprising strength.

            “Homura-chan! Stop! It’s me, Madoka!”

            Homura suddenly gripped Madoka by the throat, rising to her feet, the nurse struggling for breath beneath her. “You’re not my Madoka.”

            Madoka gave a strangled cry as Homura threw her against the bedside table. With a sickening thud, Madoka's head cracked on the corner of the table. She slid to the floor with cruel finality, her eyes open in shock, never to close again.

            Standing with the health and agility of a Puella Magi, Homura proceeded to the window. She heard voices approaching the room.

            Standing before the glass, she regarded her sunken appearance. Her eyes betrayed the lives of hurt she had never experienced. Her gaze swept across a strange mark on her neck. Beautifully intricate and the size of a small coin, it looked remarkably like the kiss of a witch.

            But that world no longer existed.

            With clouded dead eyes, Homura easily slid open the window. She was on the eighth floor. Peering below revealed nothing but cement and bushes.

            Just as the doctors entered the Incubator room, she swung her legs over the sill.

            “Stop!” cried Doctor Saotome.

            Homura did not even look behind her as she scooted off the sill and fell to her final end.

_No one._


End file.
